Thanh Duy won 'Familiar Faces 2015'

On the evening of July 11 in Ho Chi Minh City, the final Gala of the third season of "Familiar Faces" took place with the competition of four contestants: Nhat Thuy, Thanh Duy, Ai Phuong, Mai Quoc Viet. The contestants chose their own characters to transform into without having to press the random button like in previous weeks. At the end of the competition night, Thanh Duy won the championship.

Thanh Duy's fans made up the majority of the audience in the studio. They shouted his name in joy when the MC announced the highest position. With 46% of the total votes from the audience through 13 live shows, Thanh Duy also won the "Most Favorite Contestant" award of the third season.

Second prize went to Mai Quoc Viet. Nhat Thuy (left) came in third and Ai Phuong came in fourth. In addition, Khuong Ngoc was awarded the "Friendliest Contestant" and Ai Phuong received the "Most Effortful Contestant" award.

The medley "Sôi nho mien thuong" and "Truong Son Dong, Truong Son Tay" - which featured the voice of People's Artist Thu Hien - was chosen by Thanh Duy to perform on the final night. He staged the performance in the image of a female soldier during the resistance war. Before singing the main song, he opened with a chant from the song "Giua Mo Tu Khoa nghe cau ho Nghe Tinh". The male singer's fans in the audience immediately applauded enthusiastically in support of him.

Not only imitating the singing voice, Thanh Duy also showed off his graceful gestures, each glance or hand raise like People's Artist Thu Hien. My Linh commented that throughout the 13 rounds, she felt Thanh Duy was the most talented and diverse contestant. "This is not your only successful performance. In the previous competition nights, you transformed very well, but we still felt Thanh Duy's unique features lingering in the character. Tonight, this prejudice was completely erased, I only saw a complete artist Thu Hien on stage," she said. Artist Hoai Linh said that Thanh Duy did very well in singing, but he paid attention to the contestant's pronunciation to get the correct Northern accent like artist Thu Hien.

Mai Quoc Viet chose to transform into singer Quang Dung to perform the song "Phoi pha" by musician Trinh Cong Son. Choosing Trinh's music to try on the final night of the competition was to show his gratitude to the great musician who influenced his career.

In the middle of the song, Mai Quoc Viet also unexpectedly recreated the voice of famous female singer Khanh Ly in a part. My Linh called Mai Quoc Viet a "voice imitation wizard" after listening to the contestant's performance. The diva commented: "You must have spent a lot of time studying Quang Dung's way of vibrating and enunciating words. I see his image when I close my eyes and listen to you sing." Judge Hoai Linh agreed with My Linh and praised Quoc Viet's meticulous research before choosing to transform into a character.

Ai Phuong recreated the image of "Queen of Pop" Madonna in the song "Hung Up". She wore a tight outfit and confidently showed off her sexy dance moves with the dance troupe. Near the end of the song, the female singer took off her jacket, showing off familiar "fiery" moves of the international female singer such as lying on the floor, bending over...

Judge My Linh commented that if you look at it briefly, the performance was quite good, but Ai Phuong was confused about the rhythm, so she was a bit confused when performing. Musician Duc Huy agreed with My Linh, he thought that maybe the contestant performed too enthusiastically and did not focus on listening to the music, leading to some small mistakes. Hoai Linh did not comment on the artist's expertise but expressed admiration for the singer's spirit of challenging herself in difficult performances.

Nhat Thuy transformed into My Tam in the medley "Uoc gi - Yeu dai kho". She expressed that she admired the voice of the "Brown-haired Nightingale" so much that she wanted to portray her "senior" on a big music stage. The female singer brought two different shades - one calm, one vibrant - to her performance, delighting the audience.

Judge Hoai Linh expressed his love for Nhat Thuy's performance and even asked her to repeat the introductory voice imitation in the middle of the song. He appreciated the contestant's research and study of both her singing and her voice. Judge My Linh was more strict. She said that Nhat Thuy lacked inner strength when recreating My Tam's voice. "In the high parts, it seems like you haven't done enough, this is clearly seen in the second exciting song. If you love My Tam, you should pay attention that inner strength and personality are the reasons why her music has such a great influence," the diva said.